Sintered bronze bushings, also called sintered bronze bearings or oil-impregnated bearings, are a unique bearing type because of their self-lubricating and maintenance-free characteristics. How do sintered bronze bushings self-lubricate themselves? It has to do with how they are manufactured. Sintered refers to the manufacturing process, metal sintering. Such a process forms a solid component by compressing metal powders (in this case bronze-based powders) into shape and heating the compressed piece until the powders fuse together. The sintering process does not heat the metal powders to liquefaction, leaving pores within the mass of the part.
When applied with lubricating oil, the oil is captured by and fills into every single pore inside the bushing, hence oil impregnated. At room temperature, the lubricating oil stays within the pores in the sintered bronze bushing. During operation, the friction, speed, and heat force the oil to exit the pores and form an oil film throughout the surface of the bushing. Therefore, the bushing is self-lubricated. It is common that sintered bronze bearings couple with an oil supply to ensure oil film protection. These sintered bushings work exceptionally well in high-frequency applications. Below are the industries that use sintered bushings and the features these components have.
Taiwan